Samuels Stewart Highlight Day One of NBCI for Track Hogs

BY ANDRES FOCIL

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 3 Razorbacks completed day one of competition at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational late Friday night. The Hogs found three NCAA provisional-qualifying marks to start the event.

“(The DMR) will get stronger,” head coach John McDonnell said. “We haven’t even started our speed work yet. Texas ran a very tactical race. They just wanted to win and they have a great miler. I thought they were going to run to get the qualifying time but they didn’t.”

Mychael Stewart recorded his first NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the long jump tonight. He earned a fourth-place finish with leap of 25-0.

“I’m happy Mychael finally got the NCAA mark,” McDonnell said. “He was in a little bit of a slump but he’s getting better.”

Stewart bettered his previous season best by six inches (24-6.25). He now ranks tied No. 13 on the national list and tied for second in the SEC.

“I’ve been trying to hit the provisional mark for the last three meets so I’m really happy,” Stewart said. “I know I need to jump a little bit further to get to Nationals but this is a good start. It’s a good stepping stone. I know my jumps weren’t perfect so hopefully I can make some improvements and jump further.”

J-Mee Samuels won the 60-meter consolation finals with a time of 6.69, good enough for No. 10 on the national list and fifth in the SEC. He improved on his previous season best of 6.74. He qualified for the finals after running a 6.75 in the prelims.

“I think 6.69 will get him into the national meet,” McDonnell said. “That race gave him a lot of confidence.”

The distance medley relay finished second behind NCAA Champion Leo Manzano and the Texas Longhorns. Arkansas led for most of the race but Manzano was too much for anchor leg Andy McClary. The squad clocked a time of 9:40.1. The time is a provisional mark but is not UA’s season best (9:38.37).

Duncan Phillips led off with a 2:56.4 1,200-meter leg. He handed to Chris Bilbrew at the same time as Texas made their first exchange. Bilbrew split 47.3 on the 400-meter leg and handed to Alex McClary. He clocked a 1:50.7 800 meters before handing to Andy for the mile anchor leg. Andy stayed with Manzano, Texas’ anchor, for most of the race. Manzano employed his famous kick for the last 100 meters and gained a slight edge over McClary and BYU’s anchor leg.

Rio Reina started the day on a strong note for the Hogs. Running in heat four of four in the college 3,000 meters, he clocked an 8:22.83 to finish fourth in the college 3,000 meters. He eclipsed his previous person best by 12 seconds.

Micky Cobrin and Michael Chinchar competed in the championship 1,000 meters. Cobrin finished third overall with a time of 2:24.89 while Chinchar earned a sixth-place finish with a time of 2:26.82.Kent Austell competed in the 500 meters and finished 15th of the 55 runners with a time of 1:04.91.

In the college high jump, Brent Rosson finished tied for ninth with a clearance of 6-6.25. Boris Roslov cleared 6-4.25 to finish 17th. In the college long jump, Nkosinza Balumbu finished 25th with a leap of 22-1.

Also competing in the 60-meter prelims were Michael Smith (7.00), in his first collegiate race, and Cedric Zellner (7.00). Both clocked person bests.

Competition for the Razorbacks will continue at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday with the 200-meter prelims. For complete details of the New Balance Collegiate Invite, visit http://ny.milesplit.us/pages/NB-Collegiate. Log on to www.hogwired.com for more news about Razorback track and field.